Can You Find The Winning Path?

How quickly can you find the winning path without resorting to the Nalimov Tablebase?

I don't expect a full solution to this puzzle since the key juncture in the solution leads to what I consider an inhuman ending, but see how far you can get before consulting the Nalimov Tablebase to determine whether or not you have a winning position for white.

k2N4/8/K2P4/8/8/2n5/2b5/8 w - - 0 1

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No. 1-5

Yancey_Ward

Editor

Nov 27, 2017

What eventually happens in most of the winning lines is that white uses mate threats against the cornered black king to force black's knight to the edge of the board where the white bishop and the king trap him leading to the standard bishop and knight ending.

Yancey_Ward

Editor

Nov 27, 2017

That's not bad Alena. When I was looking at this puzzle last week, I got a bit further than you before throwing in the towel after about an hour realizing that the position was likely won, but I would never be able to work it out conclusively. When I put the position into the Nalimov after move 8, I realized right then that the point of the puzzle wasn't to find a final solution to mate (it was like white to mate in 84 moves or something like that), but to find the position after the under-promotion to bishop. I actually did study some of the line in the Nalimov Tablebase, but I couldn't really understand the winning plan even in a superficial way.